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Petro-Canada Takes Steps to Minimize Consumer Inconvenience After Unexpected Shortfall of Gasoline at Its Edmonton Refinery

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Aug. 12, 2008) - Petro-Canada is currently working to minimize the inconvenience to customers in Alberta and the interior of British Columbia as it deals with an unexpected supply shortfall of gasoline at its Edmonton refinery.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the catalytic cracking unit, a key part of gasoline production at Petro-Canada's Edmonton refinery had to be shut down last week. This has limited the supply of gasoline, forcing Petro-Canada to temporarily reduce the volume of gasoline delivered to customers and associates. As a result, customers in Alberta and the interior of British Columbia may notice outages of gasoline at some Petro-Canada retail sites.

"We regret any inconvenience that this unplanned situation may cause our customers," said Dan Sorochan, Vice-President of Refining & Supply. "We are working hard to minimize the impact of this situation and have established a dedicated team of employees to focus on this top priority."

Petro-Canada has taken direct and immediate action to minimize the potential inconvenience to its customers:

We are working to repair the gasoline processing unit safely and as quickly as possible.

We are adjusting our national and local distribution channels to maximize gasoline availability in Western Canada.

We are deploying as many trucks as possible to move gasoline into the area and are working through our supply channels to source additional gasoline supply.

We have placed the proper priorities on serving Essential Services.

Temporary safety and notification measures have been put in place to clearly identify any sites that are experiencing a temporary outage. Most notably, price signs will be "zeroed-out."

"While gasoline deliveries are continuing, we wanted to ensure our customers were aware of the situation," added Sorochan. "Despite the potential for short-term retail site outages, gasoline will continue to be available at many locations while we work through this situation."

Petro-Canada is one of Canada's largest oil and gas companies, operating in both the upstream and the downstream sectors of the industry in Canada and internationally. The Company creates value by responsibly developing energy resources and providing world class petroleum products and services. Petro-Canada is proud to be a National Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Petro-Canada's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol PCA and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol PCZ.

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